


Can I Borrow A Pen?

by My_Trex_has_fleas



Category: Poldark - All Media Types, Return to Treasure Island (TV 1996)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dorks, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 11:47:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10616274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Trex_has_fleas/pseuds/My_Trex_has_fleas
Summary: This is a prize fic for the Gathering Fiki Winter Raffle. Wandering Hobbit requested a fluffy meeting with a tongue tied Jim. Thank you my dear and I hope I did it justice :)))





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WanderingHobbit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingHobbit/gifts).



Semester started with the usual chaos.

Jim packed his bag for lectures, checked that he had his phone and left his room and went downstairs. Now he was a third year and finally twenty-one, his parent’s trust had been turned over to him and he had the money to pay not only his fees outright, but also to rent his own place. Of course being of a sociable nature, he’d wanted someone to share it with and so his two best friends had moved in with him. The house was small and what estate agents would hopefully describe as cosy. Still, it had enough room for the three of them and their accumulated sailing gear and a blue Staffie called Yardarm. 

Silver was in the kitchen when he got there, eating a bowl of oats with blueberries and honey. He had a terribly sweet tooth, but then they all did. 

‘Wotcher.’ He sounded cheerful, bright blue eyes sparkling with good humour. 

‘Christ.’ Jim moved past him to grab his water bottle and a yogurt out the fridge. He was a man of extremes when it came to breakfast. ‘Let me guess, you and Flint had an all-night session?’

‘Maybe.’ Silver chuckled. His boyfriend was another third year, but it had been decided that the two of them under one roof would mean that Jim and BD would get no sleep at all.

‘You ready to go?’

‘Yeah.’ Jim looked back up the stairs. ‘Where is the walking dead?’

‘Not up yet.’ Silver scraped out his bowl, licked off his spoon and then dumped them both in the sink. Jim went into the hall to grab his jacket while he went to the staircase.

‘Black Dog!’ he bellowed. ‘Get your arse down! We’re leaving in one minute!’

There was the sound of a door opening and then a rush of paws as Yardarm came hurtling down the stairs, tail wagging frantically. He was in his yellow high visibility Therapy Dog jacket and he came to run circles around Jim and silver until they petted him. 

Black Dog came down a moment later, his sweet shy face creased in a frown. Jim knew immediately that his anxiety was kicking in worse than normal. BD hated the first day of uni because it meant dealing with crowds of people and having to do things like introduce himself in tutorial groups. 

Jim gave him a reassuring smile. 

‘You all set?’ he asked and BD nodded. He shouldered his bag and knelt to hook the leash to Yardarm’s harness. 

‘All done.’ he replied and they set off for the university campus which was only a twenty minute walk away. All of them were Maritime History majors, and Penryn Campus had been where they had all met as First Years. They had been friends ever since, and now they were all in the same classes once again. 

Their first class was a new one, however. It was a requirement that they do one language related module during their third year and they had all pored over brochures and the university website. They had finally settled on a module from the English department titled Revenge, which had appealed to all of them. 

The campus was buzzing as usual and BD moved so he and yardarm were between Silver and Jim, his shoulders hunching a little. Thankfully, Yardarm could pick up on his tension and changed his gait to fall in next to him. He looked up periodically to reassure BD and Jim smiled at the happy smile on the Staffie’s face. 

Their first literature lecture was being held in one of the smaller lecture theatres and they headed straight for it to get a seat at the back that would allow them to listen but also not be right in the middle of the action, a tried and tested method for them. 

However, today it seemed like they had been beaten to the punch. There were already three people sitting in the back row, two woman and one man. Jim’s eyes were immediately drawn to him, and he had to admit that he liked what he saw. They all looked up as the three of them approached and smiled in a friendly fashion. 

Jim tried hard not to stare. The guy was not one he’d seen around campus before. He was gorgeous, all dark curls and big hazel eyes and when he smiled his two front teeth looked slightly turned in and Jim’s stomach did a spectacular somersault. 

‘Move down.’ BD gave him a shove and Jim managed to pull himself together long enough to moved down the row and take a seat, leaving a space between him and Mr Cute. He sat and dumped his bag on the empty seat between them, making himself feel a little safer. He was usually able to suss out guys he liked almost immediately, but this one was so fit he was playing havoc with Jim’s little internal radar. 

Yardarm had taken his place next to BD and Jim noticed the others now looking down the row at them in curiosity as he sat and panted happily with the usual Staffie grin on his face. It was unusual enough seeing dogs on campus, and Yardarm’s infectious smile had a habit of making people do the same. Today was no exception and he was becoming uncomfortably aware that they were the subject of conversation. 

Thankfully their lecturer was on time and she walked in bang on nine o’clock and started the class. That meant Jim could relax and just listen and forget the fact that he was sitting next to what amounted pretty much to his perfect guy. He kept his eyes resolutely fixed on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the room and took notes as their lecturer spoke at length on The Count of Monte Christo. 

About thirty minutes in though he jumped when he felt a tentative touch on his arm. Jim looked up to see that the hot guy was looking at him, holding up his pen and smiling apologetically. 

‘Sorry.’ His voice was warm and deep. ‘It’s run out. Can I borrow one of yours?’

Jim stared while his brain screamed in delight and then pointed out that he was behaving a little oddly because he wasn’t saying anything. 

‘Sure.’ He scratched around in his pencil case and took one out and passed it over. There was the tiniest bit of contact that made his whole hand tingle. 

‘Thanks.’ The smile he got was almost blinding. ‘I’ll give it back after.’

‘No problem.’ Jim managed a return smile and went back to his notes, fighting a blush that was threatening to take over his whole face. He did notice that BD and Silver were grinning at him like a pair of maniacs and knew that they had noticed he was clearly taken. That would mean relentless piss taking later, if he managed to survive the lecture.  
It finally drew to a close and now Jim was keen to get away. His proximity to the guy next to him had become more and more noticeable and the last ten minutes had seen him unable to concentrate. When the lecturer signalled the end of the class, he was up and packing his things away before the other two were even done writing the final thing on the board. 

‘Come on.’ He urged and they scrambled to get their things and then out of the row of seats. It was only nice they were outside that BD and Silver stopped dead and looked at him like he was mad. Even yardarm, now sitting at BD’s feet, gave him a quizzical look. 

‘What the hell was that?’ Silver asked, one dark eyebrow raised. ‘Was your arse on fire?’

‘No.’ Jim muttered, looking away. ‘We just need to get on.’

‘Bollocks.’ BD was grinning. ‘It was the bloke next to you. You fancy the pants off him.’

‘Shut up.’ Jim ducked his head. ‘He was fit, that’s all.’

‘Oh?’ Silver was grinning. ‘He’s also interested by the looks of things.’ He nodded behind Jim and Jim turned around to see the man in question coming towards them. 

Jim’s breath caught, butterflies swirling wildly in his stomach. 

‘You forgot your pen.’ the guy said, holding it out to him. Jim could almost feel BD and Silver’s gleeful looks boring into his back. 

‘Thanks.’ He took it back and then looked up into those beautiful eyes and knew that he was a dead man. 

‘No problem.’ The brilliant smile was back and this time it was accompanied by an outstretched hand. ‘I’m Ross.’

‘Jim.’ He swallowed hard and took the hand. Ross’ grip was firm and forthright. 

‘Jim.’ he repeated, sounding pleased. ‘So I’m not usually on this campus. Is there a good place for lunch around here?’ He looked back over his shoulder at the two girls with him. ‘That’s Dem and Verity.’

Jim took a good look at them. The taller of the two young women was red haired and grinning. The dark haired one next to her was also smiling, and Jim noticed what looked like a family resemblance to Ross. 

‘Vee’s my cousin and Dem’s my best friend.’ Ross explained. ‘We’re all med students so we’re usually at the Truro campus and this is officially our first trip to Penryn. We’d really appreciate it if you could maybe point us in the right direction.’

Jim was completely taken aback by the proposal and stood there tongue tied and unable to answer.

‘We’ll do better than that.’ Silver interjected, thankfully coming to his rescue. ‘Our next lecture is only at two so we could all go get some coffee.’ 

Ross’ eyes didn’t leave Jim’s face even as he grinned. 

‘Sound’s great.’ he said. 

*********

They ended up sitting outside on the lawn next to the campus canteen and restaurant with paper cups of coffee and doughnuts from the little kiosk inside. 

Demelza and Verity had taken to BD and Yardarm like ducks to water and were chattering away to him. Silver had texted Flint and he’d come over from his building to meet them and they were now sprawled all over each other on the grass. That meant Ross and Jim had been discreetly left to sit by themselves. 

‘So.’ Ross picked at some grass. ‘You’re first year?’

‘Third year.’ Jim wanted to die just a little. Since they had come to sit down, his nerves had kicked in full force and he was still unable to make actual sentences. ‘Maritime History.’

‘That’s cool.’ Ross sipped his coffee. ‘Beats first year Medicine.’ He pulled a face. ‘We’re like one term in and we all want to drown ourselves from all the work. I swear my reading list is about twenty miles long.’

That made Jim smile in spite of his nervousness.

‘It’s okay.’ He shrugged. ‘Although I’d bet that some of our books are probably longer than yours.’

‘Probably.’ Ross was also smiling. The look he was now giving Jim was thoughtful. ‘So, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure.’ Jim shrugged again and nearly kicked himself for acting like an idiot. 

‘Are you always this hard to flirt with or is it just me?’ Ross said and that was enough to make Jim look at him in surprise and knock his coffee over so it rolled down the little incline they were sitting on. 

‘Shit.’ He stared at it and then looked at Ross. ‘No…I mean…flirting?’

‘Yes.’ Ross’ smile got even wider and now his eyes were sparkling merrily. ‘Jesus, I know my gaydar is usually shit but I was pretty sure that you were looking at me like you might be interested.’

‘No.’ Jim blurted and then realised what he’d said. ‘I mean, yes I was but…’ He stopped as he realised he was definitely digging his own grave. ‘Fuck.’

‘Well, it’s a little sudden but okay.’ Ross laughed and then clapped a hand over his own mouth. ‘Bugger. Sorry. Sometimes I really say things without thinking. Please don’t let the fact that I’m a complete wanker scare you off.’

‘God, no.’ Jim could see how appalled Ross looked and rushed to reassure him. ‘You’re not, I promise. If anything, I’m being weird as fuck.’ He frowned. ‘I don’t normally act like this. It’s just that you’re really fit and fit guys don’t normally try to flirt with me.’ Now it was his turn to realise what he’d said and nothing in the world could stop the blush from coming this time.

‘Really?’ Ross now seemed bemused. ‘Are they blind?’

‘No.’ Jim couldn’t help it. The look of adorable confusion on Ross’ face made him laugh. ‘At least not to my knowledge.’

‘Okay then.’ Ross’ expression cleared. ‘Well, now we’ve established that I am in fact flirting with you and that I’m not blind and that you are fucking gorgeous, can I actually ask you out?’

‘God yes.’ Jim suddenly couldn’t stop smiling. ‘Please.’

‘Do you play pool?’ Ross asked. ‘There’s a place not too far from here that we kind of fell into last night.’

‘Pool is good.’ Jim couldn’t believe his luck. His heart was now galloping along and he felt like he as light enough to actually float away. ‘I finish lectures at five.’

‘Good.’ Ross took out his mobile. ‘Give me your number and I’ll text you where to meet me.’

‘Okay.’ Jim did and they exchanged numbers, completely oblivious to their rapt audience who had been watching every moved since Jim’s coffee had rolled down the hill. 

*********

‘Took them long enough.’ Demelza remarked. 

‘Jim’s a bit slow.’ BD explained. ‘He can be a bit stupid around hot guys.’ Next to him Verity snorted. 

‘Just be thankful that Ross hasn’t managed to set fire to himself while they’ve been sitting there.’ she cackled. ‘Or spilled his coffee all over Jim. That’s what he did to the last guy he tried to pull.’

‘Idiots.’ Silver chuckled, one hand in Flint’s hair. ‘Good thing they have us.’ 

‘Very good thing.’ Verity agreed and bumped her coffee cup against his. ‘If we hadn’t made him run after Jim to return his pen, he would never have been brave enough to talk to him.’

They all laughed and watched how Jim and Ross had moved closer to each other and were now sharing Ross’ coffee, their eyes fixed on each other’s faces as they talked and smiled like they were borderline mental. 

‘Aw, look at that.’ Demelza said and leaned her head on Verity’s shoulder. ‘Our little boy has made a new friend.’

Then they all nearly dropped their coffee as Ross leaned forward, seemingly on impulse, and kissed Jim square on the mouth. Jim made a squeaky noise that indicated complete and utter astonishment before he pulled back and stared at Ross in surprise. Ross looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, but it didn’t last very long because his coffee was the next one to roll down the hill when Jim leaned back in and full on snogged him in broad daylight. 

‘Well that didn’t take long.’ Flint chuckled from his vantage point in Silver’s lap. ‘See, they just needed a running start. Looks like all that shit about us making too much noise was misdirected.’ He looked back at Silver chuckled. ‘That looks like it could get way out of hand.’ 

‘We can only hope.’ Verity laughed and gave Demelza a high five.


End file.
